Running on Insulin

Chapter 21

Davis and the detective left shortly afterwards and Jenna cleaned up the coffee cups. Samantha clung to me and cried. I held her and rubbed her back, gently.  I let her cry.

"Tyler?" She said, finally.

"Yes, hon?"

"I miss my mom," she said, fresh tears falling onto my shirt.

"I know baby. I bet you do," I didn't know what else to say. I didn't know whether we'd be able to put in a custody application and if so, if we'd be successful. I couldn't imagine we wouldn't be, but still.

Jenna came back into the living room and sat down beside us.

"Samantha," she said. "I'm sorry you went through all that. I'm so, so sorry. But you were so brave to tell not only the doctor today but also to tell Officer Davis and the detective.  We're really proud of you."

She nodded, sniffling. I didn't want to let her go. Ever.

We sat like that for a little while. Finally, I could feel Samantha getting heavier against me. Jenna looked over and saw she'd fallen asleep. The poor kid had been through the emotional wringer today.

I picked her up and carried her to bed. Jenna changed her into pyjamas and I set an alarm for 2 am to check her blood sugar.

I was exhausted and lay down on our bed to wait for Jenna to come to bed.

I was awoken by screaming.

"NO!!!  STOP!!! DADDY!! STOP!! MOMMY!!! MOMMY!  WAKE UP!!!"

Jenna and I were out the door in a flash and at Samantha's bedside. She was thrashing and flailing about. I grabbed her arms so she didn't hit me, sat on the bed and rubbed her shoulder.

"Samantha, Samantha honey, wake up,". I said soothingly. "You're having a nightmare sweetheart."

"Dad?" She pulled away from me.

"No. It's Tyler honey. Jenna and I are here," I said. I turned on her bedside lamp so she could see better. "You were  having a nightmare darling."

Her bottom lip started to quiver.

"I dreamed about the night my mom died." She said.

"I'm sure. After having to tell that story twice in one day, I'd have bet that's what you dreamt about."

She sniffled.

"Look, it's almost 2 in the morning. I was going to get up to test your blood sugar so why don't we do that now?"

"It's okay," she said.

"Well, you just had a nightmare, and you mentioned you're supposed to check at night. I have your kit right here beside your bed. Let's check you out. For my sanity, okay?"

Samantha giggled a bit.

She tested and the meter said 62.

"That's low, huh?" I asked. She nodded. I grabbed a juice box from off her night table and put the straw in.

"Sit up. Drink that," I  said. Jenna was sitting on the bed, rubbing Samantha's leg.

Samantha sat up and drank down the juice box. When she was done, I took it into her washroom and threw it in the bin.

"Now we wait and test again, right?"

She nodded.

"In about 15 minutes, yeah."

"Okay. Jenna, why don't you go back to bed?  I'll wait with Sam and retest,"

"Okay," my sleepy wife said. "Just call if you need anything, sweetie."

Samantha leaned back against the headboard.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"What for?" I asked.

"Waking you guys up," she said.

"It's okay honey. You've been through a lot. And I was going to get up about now anyway to come test your sugar. You're a much more effective alarm clock, by the way," I smiled.

She giggled just a bit.

We talked for a little while. She asked what I thought was going to happen now that the police knew the whole story about how her mom died. I told her what I did know and that I didn't know everything that would happen.

She was much calmer as the minutes ticked by.

"Okay, it's been about 15 minutes. Let's test again, huh?" I said.

Samantha did another test and her level was up at 82.

"Much better," I said. "Alright. Under the covers you get. Back to sleep with you."

"Tyler? Can you stay?"

"Sure kiddo," I said. I lay down on the bed and she curled up into me. I turned out the light and lay in the dark thinking about the painful life this kid had known until just a few days ago, and how much that pain reverberated through everything she did. I sighed as I heard her breathing even out. I fell asleep a few minutes later.

Samantha had at least two more nightmares through the night, but they weren't as bad as the first one. I think, mostly because as soon as they started and I got woken up, I was right there to help her calm down. It was a rough night for both of us, but we made it through. 

Jenna woke the two of us up at nine, and I made sure Samantha tested her sugar so we could get a baseline for the day. 

"89," I said. "That's a good morning number, isn't it?" 

"It's right on target," Samantha said. 

"Great. Go brush your teeth, get dressed and come down for breakfast. How do pancakes sound?"

"Do you have sugar-free syrup?" Samantha asked. 

"Oh. No. Ummm.  Hm. How about bacon and eggs?"

"And toast?"

"Sure," I smiled. "Now I just hope we have bacon. I know we have eggs."

"Well, just eggs is okay, too."

"And you know your social worker is coming at ten. So, let's get going, okay?"

Samantha's demeanor changed. 

"I'll get packed," she said. 

"What? Why?"

"She's coming to take me away. To a real foster home."

"No, Samantha, she's not. She's coming to see how you are, to give us some information about your doctors and such, and to let us know if we can take you to your old house to get some of your stuff, like Henry Hippo."

"Yeah, no. She'll make me leave," Samantha said. She sat back on her bed. I didn't know how to get her to believe me. And I knew she needed to get downstairs to eat. 

"Look," I said, sitting beside her. "Whatever happens, you'll always have Jenna and me. You have your phone, that's yours to keep. You can call us any time. We're not disappearing on you. But to be perfectly honest with you, when we spoke to your social worker, she just wanted to come and see how you're doing.  Maybe make this a more permanent arrangement, rather than an emergency approval."

Samantha didn't say anything. 

"Come have breakfast, and we'll see what's what, before we worry about what we don't know. Okay?"

She shrugged, but went into her bathroom to brush her teeth. I left so she could get changed and come down for breakfast